Refugee advocate Phil Orchard anticipated things may have shifted on Nauru by the time this piece was published. And the University of Wollongong Associate Professor of international relations was spot on. Earlier this week Prime Minister Scott Morrison promised to remove all children off Nauru by the end of the year. This was welcomed by both the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC). However RCOA spokesperson Kelly Nicholls said there were still 38 children in Nauru who could not hold on for another two months. The ASRC was also “concerned a child will die on Nauru before Christmas”. Its detention advocacy manager Natasha Blucher said the fight was far from over. “The news this morning does not change the work we have to do today with 20 children and their families on Nauru. They all need medical care urgently, not at the end of the year,” she said. “The government is still delaying and denying medical transfers for critically ill children as lawyers and legal intervention is still needed to get children to safety. “The government cannot say it is acting on this issue until all children are here in Australian hospitals receiving medical treatment.” Prof Orchard, who does a lot of work in the refugees and human rights area, agreed the government had to resolve the situation on Nauru sooner rather than later. “The situation in Nauru of course has gone on for years,” he said. “We thought we were seeing movement where the government was finally accepting the fact that we needed to do something, particularly for the children on the island. “There has been lots of reports, lots of concerns about the health situation, particularly for children. “The New Zealand offer (to take 150 refugees) gave the government another option but it seems the government has changed tack. “It is really disappointing. It looked like there was a moment where there was actually going to be some cooperation on this issue and now we’ve obviously seen it fall apart. “I hope the government is aware of these issues and takes action on this to at least resolve the situation on Nauru.” Read more: World Refugee Week Rally in Wollongong The Prime Minister has reiterated this week that Australia’s refugee deal with the US was working and he was responding to the health crisis in Nauru “behind the scenes”. But Refugee Action Collective (RAC) Illawarra spokesperson Marion Jacka said Australians were clearly rejecting the tired old arguments that maintaining the “misery of indefinite offshore detention” was necessary for Australia’s border security. She pointed to a recent poll which revealed 80 per cent of people want children and their families transferred off Nauru and believe the government should accept the NZ offer. RAC has organised a rally outside Wollongong Town Hall on Saturday from 1pm. The November 3 event, part of the #KidsoffNauru campaign, will see hundreds of refugee rights supporters demand that the children refugees on Nauru are taken to a place of safety urgently. The rally comes on the back of demonstrations across Australia last weekend that brought thousands of people out onto the streets of Melbourne and Sydney. Read more: Anger as Illawarra principals sign open letter supporting right to fire gay teachers Prof Orchard has thrown his support behind the Wollongong rally. “I think it is important to demonstrate that Australians are concerned about this,” he said. “We saw polling that came out yesterday showing that 80 per cent of Australians felt that the children and families on Nauru should be transferred to New Zealand. “I’ve never seen that huge majority saying that the Australian government needs to take action on this.”